Coco Crisp back in lineup; Anderson rehab plans

Coco Crisp is making his first appearance in the starting lineup in eight days after missing time with a left wrist injury; he received a cortisone shot on Tuesday night.

Manager Bob Melvin said that this is the second time that Crisp has dealt with this injury, but Melvin is unsure if the problem has affected Crisp’s performance – he is batting .191 over his past 46 games dating back to June 16. You’ll recall that Josh Reddick’s right wrist problem impacted Reddick’s production the first month of the season, so it’s possible something similar has happened with Crisp, but Crisp doesn’t discuss injuries.

“He’s a tough guy,” Melvin said. “He wants to play through injuries when he can.”

The wrist is more of an issue against left-handed starters so it is possible he won’t start tomorrow against Joe Saunders.

Brett Anderson’s next rehab outing will be at Class-A Stockton on Thursday; he’s likely to be up around the 70 pitch mark, which means the next time out after that, he’s a possibility to start for Oakland as soon as Aug. 27 – but in whose place? That’s A.J. Griffin’s day, with Dan Straily the next, and the day after that, Bartolo Colon is eligible to come off the DL.

With September around the corner, might the team consider a six-game rotation in a bid to limit Sonny Gray’s innings, along with Colon’s and Anderson’s? Colon has looked gassed, Anderson is coming back from a foot stress fracture and Gray is nearing his innings total of last year (152). They have plenty of options, so it will be interesting to see where Anderson wedges in – or if he does wind up in the bullpen at some point to keep him from pounding on that foot too much.

I asked about Callaspo DHing, and Melvin pointed out that Callaspo is 4 for 7 against Mariners starter Aaron Harang. The tough decision, Melvin said, was to leave Chris Young on the bench – Young is 7 for 24 with three homers against Harang. But Melvin needs to get Crisp back in the linep – “He’s the motor that makes us go,” Melvin said – and Yoenis Cespedes is the team’s best power threat, while Josh Reddick is among the best right fielders in the game. Young has been hitting better lately, but he’s still hitting just .241 for the month and .197 for the season.

The A’s outfielders as a whole are batting .222, lowest in the majors. The lowest mark by A’s outfielders over a full season since 1916 was .228 in 1979, so this group easily could establish the franchise record for low average by outfielders.

Oakland’s DHs are batting .212 – they’re looking up at the outfielders, if you can believe it. Still, that’s only the fourth lowest in the league and the second lowest mark in A’s history – A’s DHs batted .203 in 1987.